What one credit buys
Every endpoint costs one credit per call, with two exceptions that cost more (translation) or nothing (cache hits, failed calls). The full parameter list for each endpoint is in the API reference.
| Call | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Transcript of one video | 1 credit | Timestamped segments as JSON, any caption language the video has. SRT and VTT come from the MCP server and the free tools. |
| Translated transcript | 1 + 1 per 40 segments | Minimum 2. A 10-minute video is usually 3–5 credits. |
| YouTube search, one page | 1 credit | Up to 50 results per page. |
| Channel videos, one page | 1 credit | Newest first, up to 200 per call. |
| Search inside a channel | 1 credit | YouTube's own in-channel ranking. |
| Playlist videos | 1 credit | Whole playlist, in order. |
| Repeat of a cached video | 0 | Same video, same language, within the cache window. |
| A call that fails on YouTube's side | 0 | Captions off, private, deleted, age-restricted: refunded automatically. |
| Health check | 0 | No key needed. |
If YouTube cannot give us the captions, you get the reason, a hint, and your credit back, in the same response. There is nothing to claim.
Which plan
Free is for finding out whether the API returns what you need. Twenty credits, every endpoint, no card.
Top-ups are for scripts, side projects and anything with uneven usage. Buy once, spend whenever; the credits do not expire. The 2,500-credit bundle at $10 covers a small channel end to end.
Production at $49 a month is for a product that calls the API every day: 25,000 credits a month, priority support, channel webhooks. Top-ups stack on top if a month runs hot.
Enterprise starts at 1,000,000 credits for $249 a month, with custom invoicing, a direct Slack channel and a dedicated infrastructure option. Volume discounts start at 5 million.
Same prices whether you call the REST API, use the MCP server from Claude or Cursor, or run the free tools signed in. If you are coming from the YouTube Data API or a self-hosted scraper, the migration guide maps quota units to credits. For how we compare with other transcript APIs on price, see the comparison.
Pricing questions
What is one credit?
One billable API call. A transcript, one page of search results, one channel or playlist listing. Translation costs extra because it spends model tokens: one credit per 40 transcript segments on top of the fetch, minimum two.
Do credits expire?
Top-up credits never expire. Plan credits are the monthly allowance of the plan; the Production plan gives you 25,000 each month. Top-ups stack on top of any plan, including Free.
What happens when a video has no captions?
You get a 404 with a plain-language reason, a hint, and retryable: false, and the credit is put back. The same for private, deleted and age-restricted videos. You only pay for transcripts you actually receive.
Is there a free tier?
Every account starts with 20 credits, no card. That is enough to try every endpoint. Cached repeats and failed calls do not use them up.
Can I cancel the monthly plan?
Any time, from the dashboard. Billing runs through Paddle, which handles VAT and invoices; you keep access until the end of the paid period.
What does 25,000 credits get me in practice?
About 25,000 transcripts a month, or a mix: for example 5,000 channel listings and 20,000 transcripts. At the $49 plan that is under $0.002 per transcript. Enterprise starts at 1,000,000 credits for $249 a month, with volume pricing above 5 million.
Is the MCP server priced differently?
No. The MCP server and the free browser tools, when you are signed in, use the same credits at the same prices as the REST API. One key, one balance.
Get your 20 free credits. No card, and the key works on every endpoint right away.